Wallet-size cards are in widespread and general use as credit cards, identification cards, passes, membership cards, driver's licenses and the like. Such cards are typically made of a solid plastic or a plastic laminate and carry visible indicia, plus embossed and/or raised characters which carry the person's identification, the card's identification and other information. Such cards are used in imprinting devices for imprinting sales receipts. In addition, most of such cards carry magnetic strips which contain limited amounts of digitally encoded data. The cards are inserted whole into a reader, such as in an automatic teller machine, or one edge portion of the card containing the strip is passed through a reader, such as a credit card reader.
In recent years, there has been a great deal of work done in the area of optical recording media, the equipment to record and read such media, and the form or substrate on which the media are deposited. One form of an optical recording element is a disk which includes a groove pattern that is embossed on one side of the substrate. The grooves consist of a series of concentric circles or alternatively a continuous spiral. To read such disks, readers rotate the disk while a focussed laser beam is utilized to read information stored on the disk.
Another form of an optical recording device includes a strip format of optical recording media. Such strip formats on wallet-size cards are disclosed in the Drexler U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,500,777, 4,542,288, 4,544,835, 4,680,460, 4,680,458 and 4,680,456.
As described in the Drexler '777 patent, the laser recording medium is approximately 15 mm wide and extends the length of the card. The strip is applied to the card by an adhesive and is covered by a transparent laminating sheet which serves to keep the strip of laser recording medium flat as well as protecting the strip from dust and scratches. The card is read by moving the card linearly with respect to a laser beam.
The Bouldin U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,089 mentions several configurations for optical recording media including a disk format, square sheet-like material with a central hub, and a non-rotating rectangular plate.
The Drexler et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,307 describes a method for protecting optical surfaces of an optical recording tape by coating the edges of the surface. Alternatively, the edges of the tape may be deformed by embossing the surface such as to create raised protuberances.